House rejects Perry's HPV vaccine order

Published 5:30 am, Tuesday, March 13, 2007

AUSTIN— The Texas House voted overwhelmingly today to reject Gov. Rick Perry's executive order requiring middle-school girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease linked to cervical cancer.

The House voted 119-21 to tentatively approve a bill that would overturn Perry's mandate that the HPV vaccine be a requirement for school enrollment. Final passage is expected Wednesday.

HB 1098 by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, also would prevent the health commissioner in the future from adding the vaccine to the list of shots needed for school.

Perry has been on the defensive against many members of his own party since he issued his surprising order Feb. 2 making Texas the first state to require the Gardasil vaccine for school enrollment. The vaccine targets four strains of human papillomavirus that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer.

The governor was out of the country as the bill to overturn his order was debated. He left today on an eight-day trip to the Middle East.

Bonnen said the vaccine is too new and could put girls' long-term health at risk. He also argued that cervical cancer can be detected and treated if women get regular Pap smears, noting that rates of cervical cancer have dropped 74 percent from 1955 to 1992.

"We are having significant success in defeating cervical cancer in this state," said Bonnen.

Lawmakers supporting the vaccine mandate said that it would not only save hundreds of lives, but would prevent thousands of women from developing precancerous cells that require cutting or freezing a portion of the cervix. Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, said the treatments can compromise a woman's fertility.

After an often emotional debate, Farrar softened her tone in asking her colleagues to defeat the bill. She acknowledged that lawmakers are uncomfortable with the idea of inoculating schoolgirls against a disease spread by sex.

"Please continue to learn more about this issue, the vaccine. I see it as the ability to save a lot of women's lives and also the quality of their lives," she said.

Bonnen said that parents and doctors should decide what is right for their daughters.